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Claude Sonnet 5 vs Grok 4.5

Grok 4.5 leads Claude Sonnet 5 on coding, 58.6 to 57.7 on the Vibe Coding Index, and Grok 4.5 costs 1.7x less per output token ($6.00 vs $10.00 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 115 benchmarks have a result for both.

Replace Claude Sonnet 5 Replace Grok 4.5
Claude Sonnet 5Anthropic
Coding
57.7
Overall
63.2
Output $/M
$10.00
48
Grok 4.5xAI
Coding
58.6
Overall
62.1
Output $/M
$6.00
64
vs boards won of 115 shared, 3 tied

Claude Sonnet 5 or Grok 4.5: which to pick

Claude Sonnet 5 and Grok 4.5 are level for coding, 57.7 against 58.6 on the Vibe Coding Index, so price and context decide.

Pick Claude Sonnet 5 for a larger context window (1M against 500K tokens) and work measured by Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) or Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI), where it leads. Pick Grok 4.5 for output tokens 1.7x cheaper ($6.00 vs $10.00 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($0.62 against $1.87).

Model AClaude Sonnet 5Anthropic57.7/1006 independent benchmarks$1.87 per solved taskModel BGrok 4.5xAI58.6/1006 independent benchmarks$0.62 per solved task
Shared results
115
Claude Sonnet 5 only
6
Grok 4.5 only
8
Like-for-like categories
8 of 9

Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.

Which one for your work

Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.

At a glance

Coding index
Claude Sonnet 5 57.7 from 6 benchmarks, Grok 4.5 58.6 from 6 benchmarks.
Widest category
Math, 10.6 points apart on average over 6 shared benchmarks.
Widest single gap
ProofBench: Claude Sonnet 5 77.0% against Grok 4.5 31.0%, 46.0 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price
Claude Sonnet 5 $10.00 against Grok 4.5 $6.00 per million output tokens, 1.7x apart.
Context window
Claude Sonnet 5 takes 1M tokens, Grok 4.5 500K.

Benchmark by benchmark

First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.

Boards won, where both have a result
CategoryClaude Sonnet 5BarsGrok 4.5Ties
Coding11111 tie
Intelligence11
Agentic work991 tie
Reasoning67
Math42
Knowledge47
Web design351 tie
General1022
All shared boards48643 ties
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index1111
Coding benchmarks for Claude Sonnet 5 and Grok 4.5
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5Grok 4.5Leader
LiveBench coding74.7%94.3%Grok 4.5
LMArena WebDev15401553Grok 4.5
AA Coding Index71.572.4Grok 4.5
LiveCodeBench (Vals AI)82.4%87.3%Grok 4.5
SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI)79.6%86.6%Grok 4.5
Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI)10.6%8.6%Claude Sonnet 5
Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI)81.3%69.0%Claude Sonnet 5
Code migration (Vals AI)44.4%36.6%Claude Sonnet 5
ProgramBench (Vals AI)0.0%0.0%Tie
IOI (Vals AI)45.0%40.6%Claude Sonnet 5
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI)74.5%67.8%Claude Sonnet 5
Vibe Code Bench 1-100 (Vals AI)13.8%Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
SkillsBench (Vals AI)46.5%66.0%Grok 4.5
CyberBench (Vals AI)70.3%71.0%Grok 4.5
SciCode54.3%55.0%Grok 4.5
FrontierCode42.7%42.4%Claude Sonnet 5
GSO-Bench37.3%Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
WeirdML68.8%46.4%Claude Sonnet 5
ALE-Bench1463.11309.3Claude Sonnet 5
LMArena Text: coding14831474Claude Sonnet 5
LMArena Text: software and IT14741471Claude Sonnet 5
LMArena WebDev: React15411556Grok 4.5
LMArena WebDev: HTML15271567Grok 4.5
LMArena WebDev: from an image15401562Grok 4.5
SciCode10.7%6.5%Claude Sonnet 5
Neither model has a result on the other 14 boards here
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index11
Intelligence benchmarks for Claude Sonnet 5 and Grok 4.5
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5Grok 4.5Leader
AA Intelligence Index38.238.8Grok 4.5
Epoch Capabilities Index156.9154.1Claude Sonnet 5
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index99
Agentic work benchmarks for Claude Sonnet 5 and Grok 4.5
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5Grok 4.5Leader
AA Agentic Index43.641.2Claude Sonnet 5
Design Arena: agents building web apps12451218Claude Sonnet 5
Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps12491249Tie
Design Arena: agents building mobile apps12151220Grok 4.5
Design Arena: agents building Android apps12271236Grok 4.5
Design Arena: agents building Godot games12251229Grok 4.5
Design Arena: agents building games12271236Grok 4.5
Design Arena: HTML slides11681205Grok 4.5
Design Arena: PowerPoint slides11911230Grok 4.5
Design Arena: spreadsheets1035Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
LiveBench research82.8%85.9%Grok 4.5
LiveBench browser72.0%44.0%Claude Sonnet 5
LiveBench long agentic39.0%27.9%Claude Sonnet 5
SREBench (Vals AI)0.4%0.8%Grok 4.5
Finance Agent (Vals AI)53.9%48.4%Claude Sonnet 5
Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI)29.4%24.9%Claude Sonnet 5
Legal Research Bench (Vals AI)41.8%38.0%Claude Sonnet 5
Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI)66.3%52.9%Claude Sonnet 5
Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI)5.7%Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
Time Horizon Index (Vals AI)Not measured6.3%Only Grok 4.5 measured
APEX-Agents54.5%56.2%Grok 4.5
PostTrainBenchNot measured23.4%Only Grok 4.5 measured
Vending-Bench 2$6,378$3,887Claude Sonnet 5
LMArena SearchNot measured1216Only Grok 4.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index67
Reasoning benchmarks for Claude Sonnet 5 and Grok 4.5
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5Grok 4.5Leader
GPQA Diamond88.9%92.9%Grok 4.5
LiveBench reasoning88.7%87.2%Claude Sonnet 5
MMMU Pro (Vals AI)83.0%61.8%Claude Sonnet 5
GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)91.1%93.1%Grok 4.5
Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run)41.3%42.7%Grok 4.5
GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run)90.5%93.4%Grok 4.5
ARC-AGINot measured87.2%Only Grok 4.5 measured
ARC-AGI-2Not measured52.6%Only Grok 4.5 measured
SimpleBench60.6%70.0%Grok 4.5
Chess puzzles45.0%35.0%Claude Sonnet 5
Mystery game puzzles35.0%Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
LMArena Text: hard prompts14611462Grok 4.5
LMArena Text: expert14891465Claude Sonnet 5
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English14641464Claude Sonnet 5
LMArena Vision: diagrams12931304Grok 4.5
LMArena Vision: homework13111295Claude Sonnet 5
Kagi LLM BenchmarkNot measured83.5%Only Grok 4.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 5 boards here
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index42
Math benchmarks for Claude Sonnet 5 and Grok 4.5
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5Grok 4.5Leader
OTIS Mock AIME94.7%97.8%Grok 4.5
FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 365.6%57.2%Claude Sonnet 5
FrontierMath, tier 429.3%24.4%Claude Sonnet 5
ProofBench77.0%31.0%Claude Sonnet 5
LMArena Text: math14671460Claude Sonnet 5
LMArena Text: mathematical work14811482Grok 4.5
Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index47
Knowledge benchmarks for Claude Sonnet 5 and Grok 4.5
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5Grok 4.5Leader
MMLU Pro87.5%89.2%Grok 4.5
LegalBench (Vals AI)83.9%86.0%Grok 4.5
CorpFin (Vals AI)67.0%67.4%Grok 4.5
TaxEval (Vals AI)75.6%71.7%Claude Sonnet 5
MortgageTax (Vals AI)70.0%61.8%Claude Sonnet 5
MedCode (Vals AI)47.5%43.3%Claude Sonnet 5
SimpleQA Verified33.7%48.3%Grok 4.5
LMArena Text: science14601464Grok 4.5
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare14421440Claude Sonnet 5
LMArena Text: legal and government14541463Grok 4.5
LMArena Text: business and finance14361441Grok 4.5
FACTS Benchmark SuiteNot measured50.2%Only Grok 4.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index35
Web design benchmarks for Claude Sonnet 5 and Grok 4.5
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5Grok 4.5Leader
Design Arena: websites12741281Grok 4.5
Design Arena: UI components12771280Grok 4.5
Design Arena: game dev12771264Claude Sonnet 5
Design Arena: data viz12511266Grok 4.5
Design Arena: 3D12611257Claude Sonnet 5
Design Arena: all code categories12751275Tie
Design Arena: SVG11921215Grok 4.5
Design Arena: ASCII art12071256Grok 4.5
LiveBench design82.0%78.1%Claude Sonnet 5
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1022
General benchmarks for Claude Sonnet 5 and Grok 4.5
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5Grok 4.5Leader
LiveBench data analysis71.7%73.0%Grok 4.5
Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI)66.0%Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
SAGE (Vals AI)48.9%35.0%Claude Sonnet 5
MedScribe (Vals AI)76.0%86.9%Grok 4.5
Vals Multimodal Index68.8%63.4%Claude Sonnet 5
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR)82.0%79.3%Claude Sonnet 5
DTBench92.5%96.5%Grok 4.5
LMCA50.0%45.2%Claude Sonnet 5
Surface Evolver Bench60.0%74.4%Grok 4.5
Furniture assemblyNot measured22.5%Only Grok 4.5 measured
LMArena Text14421448Grok 4.5
LMArena Text: instruction following14521445Claude Sonnet 5
LMArena Text: creative writing14161442Grok 4.5
LMArena Vision12731287Grok 4.5
LMArena Text: English14501453Grok 4.5
LMArena Text: non-English14311440Grok 4.5
LMArena Text: Chinese14781495Grok 4.5
LMArena Text: German14421448Grok 4.5
LMArena Text: Japanese14221430Grok 4.5
LMArena Text: Korean14121406Claude Sonnet 5
LMArena Text: French14631457Claude Sonnet 5
LMArena Text: Spanish14381451Grok 4.5
LMArena Text: Russian14501449Claude Sonnet 5
LMArena Text: Polish14251432Grok 4.5
LMArena Text: multi-turn14531456Grok 4.5
LMArena Text: longer queries14621462Claude Sonnet 5
LMArena Text: writing and language14361445Grok 4.5
LMArena Text: entertainment and media14111434Grok 4.5
LMArena Vision: English12751285Grok 4.5
LMArena Vision: Chinese13311345Grok 4.5
LMArena Vision: reading text12881293Grok 4.5
LMArena Vision: humor12611276Grok 4.5
LMArena Vision: creative writing12461293Grok 4.5
LMArena Document14661452Claude Sonnet 5
Neither model has a result on the other 12 boards here
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
Image generation benchmarks for Claude Sonnet 5 and Grok 4.5
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5Grok 4.5Leader
Neither model has a result on 5 boards here

What each workload costs

Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.

Chat turn

1K input + 500 output tokens

Claude Sonnet 5$0.0070Fits in one request
Grok 4.5$0.0050Fits in one request

Grok 4.5 costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

Claude Sonnet 5$0.130Fits in one request
Grok 4.5$0.118Fits in one request

Grok 4.5 costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

Claude Sonnet 5$0.500Fits in one request
Grok 4.5$0.460Fits in one request

Grok 4.5 costs less

Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.

Specification differences

The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.

Specifications of Claude Sonnet 5 and Grok 4.5
SpecificationAnthropic Claude Sonnet 5SpaceXAI Grok 4.5
MakerAnthropicxAI
WeightsNo public weights listedNo public weights listed
ReleasedJune 30, 2026July 8, 2026
Context window1M500K
Input $/Mtok$2.00$2.00
Output $/Mtok$10.00$6.00
Coding index57.758.6
Independent measurements behind it66
Cost per solved task$1.87$0.62
SourceOpenRouter listingOpenRouter listing

Questions

Is Claude Sonnet 5 better than Grok 4.5 for coding?

Claude Sonnet 5 and Grok 4.5 are level for coding, 57.7 against 58.6 on the Vibe Coding Index, so price and context decide. Pick Claude Sonnet 5 for a larger context window (1M against 500K tokens) and work measured by Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) or Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI), where it leads. Pick Grok 4.5 for output tokens 1.7x cheaper ($6.00 vs $10.00 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($0.62 against $1.87).

Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 5 or Grok 4.5?

Claude Sonnet 5 costs $2.00 per million input tokens and $10.00 per million output tokens; Grok 4.5 costs $2.00 and $6.00. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, Claude Sonnet 5 costs $1.87 and Grok 4.5 $0.62.

Which has the bigger context window, Claude Sonnet 5 or Grok 4.5?

Claude Sonnet 5, with 1M tokens against 500K.

How many benchmarks is the Claude Sonnet 5 vs Grok 4.5 comparison based on?

115 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Claude Sonnet 5's coding index rests on 6 independent benchmarks and Grok 4.5's on 6. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.

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